Catana 47 C carbon infusion

[yeloya]

After 4 FP's, in search of a bit more of performance but still a boat that can be chartered, I considered Outremer 51 and Catana 47. I had a chance to sail extensively O51 but came to the conclusion that she was really cramped, particularly the front cabins were insane. The boat also seemed to me too delicate to be given as a bareboat charter.
So, the next option was a 4 cabins, 4 heads Catana 47 from 2013. I delivered it from Montenegro to Marmaris and wanted to share my experiences with those who could be interested with this specific boat;

-outstanding performance and stability. (see the video)
-very rigid, solid, no squealing whatsoever even in 3-4 meters of short Med waves.
-cabins are larger than those of O 51 (not as large as the ones on Helia though)
-blocks, cleats, stoppers, winches..everything is first quality and oversized.
-handling of sails from cockpit is great, you don't have to go to the mast foot for reefing or unreefing.
-finish is not exceptional but quite good.

The down sides:

-no forward visibility at all when seated on the helm station which is very low. On top, a huge panel of chart plotter and instruments is installed on yr eye level to make sure that you don't see anything. Thanks God, we had a repetitor in the saloon..
-These two stairs between the saloon and the cockpit were killing me, I hit my head 3-4 times until I got used to it. (I am 6 ft 2)
-my wife says that kitchen is smaller than the one in Helia..
-the heads don't have a hatch on ceiling, the only one is very small looking under the bridge which should definately be closed when sailing.
-water and gasoil tanks could have been a bit bigger.
-the handling of sails are great but there are hundreds of meters of ropes hanging around in the cockpit.

All in all, the boat is made for sailing safe and fast. This is not the boat for those who are looking for large fridges, fly bridge, largest possible dinghy and the most powerfull O/B. The boat has a reasonable payload (probably more than O 51) but I am sure the performance will be compromised if overloaded.
Pricewise, it's not cheap ; at 47 ft the new one comes at app. 720.000 € compared for example 800-810.000 € for O 51, or around 600-650.000 €
new FP 47 and Nautitech 46

Cheers

Yeloya

[Barra]

Good review Yeloya. Nice to see you finally got your Catana after the fiasco in France.

You will get used to the step down from cockpit to saloon quick enough (pain is a great incentive) but on a charter by the time they do the charter will be over I think. I still bang my head once at start of season even after 5 years.

Must be the saloon is a bit higher / helm a bit lower than the older 471s as i dont remember any visibility issues on them.

The sailing makes up for all of it though!

[yeloya]

here is the video..

Cheers

Yeloya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGGF...ature=youtu.be